Tooting own horn. The turnabout seemed to come after I was informed by one recruiter that while the American way is to limit your resume/CV to one or two pages, the way to get a job here is to expound. So now I'm sending out a four and a half pager that details everything. Fifteen seconds after I was off the phone with one recruiter this morning, another called. It's a little early to start predicting rampant success, though.

I have to relearn how to spell my name out loud again. I had gotten used to saying "zed" instead of "zee" in Singapore, but now I've discovered that "aitch" is actually pronounced "haitch" in Australia.

We had an epic first night of bar trivia the other night. Not because we did so well (we did all right until falling apart at the end) but because we met a bunch of people afterwards. There was another team there (two people from Scotland and one Brit/Australian) that we hooked up with after the game and ended up closing the place down. Towards the end we joined up with another guy and girl who were flight attendants for Emirates Airlines on a layover (they were Brits living in Dubai). We ended up partying with them at another bar (Frostbite?) up the street until 3 a.m.

Feast or Famine. After a relatively quiet first two weeks here, Mark is all of a sudden shit-hot. His phone has rung repeatedly today with requests and questions from recruiters. There's one interview set up for next week, with hopefully several others to follow.  I smell job offer.

"Everynight about six o'clock the birds come back to the palm to talk".  St. Kilda is definitely the place to watch the birds congragate at sunset. Tonight while waiting for a tram I saw what must have been at least a hundred loorikeets, several mynahs and a few cockatoos, none of which are exactly quiet birds.
In other news: We're moving again next Monday. We've been living in relative luxury in a two bedroom serviced apartment, but we can't afford it. So we're moving into a tiny furnished studio for a much more reasonable price. Hopefully we won't kill each other after a month of living on top of each other. 
 

Things that I forgot about cold weather:

The feeling of a cold toilet seat.

How hard it is to get out of bed in the morning.

The smell of a long inhale of cold morning air through your nostrils.

The feeling of standing in the shower with warm water flowing on your back, while the rest of your body is shivering.

How good I look in winter clothes.

New look.  A new blog title deserves a new look and feel.   Waddaya think?
 
We've decided we HAVE to make it work here.  We're really enjoying just about everything about the city (except for the isolation).  I've redoubled my efforts at finding a job, and if that doesn't work, I'll re-redouble them.  That's still the big thing hanging over our heads.

Birthday.  My birthday was Friday -- the big three-eight, which means I can no longer claim "middle thirties" -- I'm now solidly in my "late thirties".
 
Marjorie got me some CDs to start with -- the new PJ Harvey, and two by Australian bands: Hunters and Collectors, and Something For Kate.  Then it was on to the St. Kilda Baths for some west and welaxation.  First a soak in a salt water bath, in front of a big window looking out over the white-capped bay, with seagulls flying by.  Then a much-needed massage.
 
Afterwards we had an awesome lunch at the Sheherezade Cafe -- I had goulash with potato balls, rice, carrots, spinach, and cole slaw.  Best I've had since Europe.  Then we scored scored some chocolate eclairs and other yummies from a nearby bakery, and some bagels from Glick's.  Home for a nap, then a quiet evening at home watching Donnie Brasco.
 
Saturday was part two.  I wanted to see a footy (Australian Rules Football) game, so we went off to the Telstra Dome to see the St. Kilda Saints wallop the Richmond Tigers.  It was quite a spectacle.  I used to think the game was pretty much just anarchy, but as I start to understand the game more, I'm beginning to appreciate it, even if some of the rules are still a mystery.  There's some serious athleticism involved.  The fan base was amazing -- the two teams are just based in suburbs (or urbs, I guess) of Melbourne, but there were 40-50,000 people there, evenly divided.  (It was as if Virginia Highlands was playing Buckhead back in Atlanta.)  Everyone, even the old ladies, were into it, yelling, waving banners, wearing team scarves, etc.  Other interesting things:

There were machines where you could place bets on the game beforehand.  Actually, you could bet on anything, or play the pokies (poker machines).

 We got food beforehand in the restaurant there, and it was served on real plates with real silverware.  And it was reasonably priced.

 You could also bring your own food, or hot drinks in Thermoses.
What a crazy idea!  Don't gouge your fans -- let them come to the games at a reasonable price.  No wonder they draw crowds.

Trivia. Well, we tried to play trivia last night, but the tables were all booked up. So we stood in the back, had a pint, and listened to one round. We knew 16 of the 20 answers. Any Aussies reading this need some ringers for their team?

Still in limbo. Job search continues. Some leads, but I think there is a lot of competition right now.

Last night we rented a movie but we couldn't get the VCR in our short-term apartment to work. Maybe it's just because we're used to western VCRs. Do you have to plug in the tapes upside down or something?

I'm still having to use internet cafes. I bought a wireless card so I can access the internet from the various hotspots around here but I'm having trouble finding the right pre-paid cards to buy to use.

We're going to play trivia tonight, which should be fun.

We've moved to a short-term stay apartment. Hopefully this will be the last time we're required to move our things before finding a job and a house to live in on a more permanent basis.
I have to say that, so far, my impression of Melbourne is very favourable. People are very nice, incredibly so. There are at least three concerts we'd like to see here this month, which is great after maybe three concerts a year in Singapore. Groceries are more reasonably priced and beer and wine are half as much as they were in S'pore. Even in restaurants wine is priced very reasonably. There are lots of dogs here, and they seem to be incredibly mellow. We've passed several dogs sitting behind their fences in their yards and they just look at us and mildly wag their tails rather than bark. I wonder what they put in the puppychow?
My friend Karen asked me recently why Melbourne? There are lots of reasons: The weather is mild. The people are friendly. There is good public transportation, and bike lanes on the roads everywhere. There are good restaurants and cafes, and outdoor dining takes place all year. It's near the ocean and the mountains so one could easily go skiing in the winter and snorkeling in the summer. There is interesting wildlife nearby. There's a great music scene here. Basically, Melbourne still seems like a place we could be very happy. Hopefully we'll find work soon.

Spend spend spend, spend, spend, spend. Being Americans at heart, and with a free license to start accumulating goods, we've been dropping scads of jing-wah since arriving. Marjorie's up in Target right now, while I'm next door in a Japanese-style internet cafe. We found a extended stay apartment off Toorak St. which we're moving into on Monday. My interview on Friday went -- okay, I guess. They'll call me back for a technical interview and a test later on, if all went well, which it may or may not have. I have other leads to follow up on, and now that I have a local phone, I think I'll get more action.

Yesterday we took the train down to Williamstown ("Willie") which was a nice, quiet suburb, on the water. Spotted several new birds, including the superb fairy wren, which is what they prefer to be called, as I understand it.

A quick list of some little differences about this place:

The first floor is the ground floor, and the second floor is the first floor. I keep getting into elevators and hitting "1" by mistake.

"Entrees" in a restaurant are actually what they call appetizers.

A big sign in the park reads "Dogs allowed off leash". That's really amazing to me. Not that they allow dogs off the leash, but that the big sign tells you so. Advertising a freedom, not a restriction.

Similarly, you're allowed to eat and drink on the trams. It's kind of courageous, I think, to allow these simple freedoms that may cost a little as far as maintainance and clean-up but have a positive effect on the quality of life.

We've arrived! We got in, very bleary eyed, at 9am this morning Melbourne time. So far things are going our way: Our hotel let us check in early so we could take a quick nap before setting out on errands. We found a suit for Mark's interview tomorrow (he looks hot!). Mark got a haircut. I bought a new coat, scarf, and gloves (it's winter here). We both got new sim cards for our phones, the phone numbers will be e-mailed to relatives tomorrow (probably). So, all the goals for the day have been completed.
It still doesn't feel like we're here long term though, maybe after a few days it will sink in.

Such sweet sorrow. Everything is packed, thrown away, given away, or mailed. We just had the final inspection of apartment and got the full deposit back (yay!). At the airport now, waiting for our flight out. Hooray for free internet. I'm feeling an odd combination of melancholy and excitement.

Bye, Singapore, it's been interesting and fun.

Another list of the top 100 wonders of the modern world. I've only seen 11 from this list. Only three from the top 50. Life is short.

While Nirvana is usually my music of choice when cleaning house, a day of cleaning AND packing required something a little different. I credit Marjorie for cuing up the right thing. For future reference, The Modern Lovers is the proper choice for such an occasion.

Four more days. We spent today doing an array of moving errands, such as returning movies and library books, packing things up, and throwing things out. Then we went for a swim this evening. We'll miss the pool at our condominium. We don't use it often, just the occasional swim, but it's always enjoyable. We'll also really miss the animals we see and hear frequently in our neighbourhood. Yesterday evening we heard a choir of frogs who had moved to the pipes along the canals to increase the sonic impact of their croaking, it was amazingly loud and made us both start laughing. This morning at the bus stop I saw a beautiful blue kingfisher and two sulfur crested cockatoos, along with the usual mynahs and orioles. We'll still have cockatoos in Melbourne, but probably not the others. I'll also miss the frilled lizards I see frequently sunning themselves along the fences on my way to work, and will even miss the little geckos we find in the house (though I won't miss the poo).
We've been really fortunate to see such a variety of wild life in their natural habitats here. The highlights for me are the following:
Mudskippers, their amazing, and not uncommon here.
Flying lizards. We've seen two here. They're very cool.
Hornbills. We saw two little ones on our way to Tioman island in Malaysia, and one here near the zoo that may or may not have been wild.
Bee eaters: They're really beautiful birds, and uncommon enough that it's a real treat to see them.
macaques: I'm not the biggest fan of monkeys, but seeing them in the wild is special.
Monitor lizards: They're so prehistoric looking. Very similar thrill as seeing an alligator.
The white-vented mynahs: They are probably the most common species of bird in Singapore, but I love them. They're funny, charming, and almost always bring a smile to my face.

Does this make sense to you? Mark and I are trying to save money by mailing our things by surface mail through the Singapore post, rather than through a shipper/mover. Today I wanted to insure a few packages, which ultimately left me with a lot less faith that our packages are ever going to arrive. The post handlers wrote on the insured boxes "insured for X dollars"; who does that help? Is it just to alert potential robbers that there might be something valuable in the box? Because let's face it, if the box goes missing writing on the box isn't going to be helpful. Nice of them to write out just how valuable the stuff might be in dollar amount too, isn't it, just in case you're only willing to risk it for really valuable stuff. They also gave me a hard time about my boxes (standard moving boxes, well packed) and said I didn't use enough tape (I did), and made a big fuss of re-taping the edges of the insured boxes (only the insured boxes, the others aren't their problem) with little insurance stickers (I'm sure that will make a big difference).
So we've sent about 12 boxes so far, with about 8 more to send. I'm thinking we'll be lucky if we see 10 on the other side. On the plus side, it is MUCH cheaper to send our things this way.
Moving sucks.

The great Singapore black-out. Last night, right in the middle of Six Feet Under, the power goes out. This is a first during our time here. The blackout seemed to stretch a long way -- I climbed to the top of our building, and there were lights in the distance, but mostly dark for several miles in every direction. For 45 minutes or so, we got to experience what it was like here before electricity. Damn hot. How did people sleep?

Tonight was my last soccer game. They let me play striker for the last twenty minutes, which was fun. I had no goals, but got an assist after committing a flagrant foul that was not called. Afterwards, beers at Turf City. Then goodbyes, which I've really come to hate.

I'll find a team in Melbourne, but will it be as fun? Doubtful.

Turns out the Chinese opera we heard the other night from our window might have had another interesting twist to it. On opening nights, apparently, Chinese opera troupes play their first performance to an empty theater. It's for the ghosts, you see. We couldn't tell if there was a crowd there or not but this might have been what was going on.

My coworkers Hong I and Meng Wah told me this today during lunch, which was interesting in itself. We went to a dim sum restaurant on the seventh floor of a public housing project. It was rather like a banquet hall. But the food was really tasty. We had three kinds of dumplings, pork ribs with yams, glutinous rice, porridge, spongy meat-filled rolls, tea, and chestnut(?) cakes for dessert.

Got another ping on the job front today. A recruiter called me from Australia about a CV I posted on a job site. He asked me if I had any experience with HAV. Sorry, I said, as I had never even heard of it. Later he mentioned it again, and I asked (so I could look it up later), "Are you saying H-A-V or H-A-B?"

"No," he said. "E-J-B. Echo, Juliet, Bravo".

I thought language issues weren't going to be a problem. But "E-J-B" in an Australian accent sounds an awful lot like "H-A-V" to my ears.

Violent streak? Me? Frustrating game today. The team we played against had a player who was the biggest cheater I had ever seen. You breathe on him, and he falls down and cries out like he's in agony. The problem was, the ref fell for it almost every time.

I was covering him. I'm usually a pacifist, but I can't stand that sort of crap. So I tried to rile him up by calling him every name in the book whenever he was near me. At one point he ran through my space, so a grabbed his shirt, and of course he fell down and cried for the ref. The ref missed this one, so I said, "Awww, what's the matter? You fall down there?" It was all I could do not to at least step on him. He was just ignoring my taunts, so I figure, as long as he's falling anyway, and the ref's letting it happen, I might as well get my licks in. He was subbed out before I could do much. But he came back later, and then worst thing happened, which was that he scored the go-ahead goal. While I was covering someone else, but still.

Even now, the big dumb jock in me wishes I had left him with some scars. Sports are primal sometimes.

Anyway, the coach announced that this would be my last Sunday game (though there's a Wednesday night one that I'm still playing) and everyone applauded me. At least I hope they were applauding me, and not the fact that I'm leaving. It was nice.

Asian moment. Sometimes we forget we're living in Asia. We've gotten used to things, and often take the comfortable route as far as food, transportation, and shopping. But last night, we came home after dinner, and there was a Chinese opera going on at the little temple that we can see out our window, just down the street. This was about 10pm. They have a new open stage back behind it, and a tent set up for onlookers. We can see just a tiny bit of stage through binoculars. When the wind was from the right direction, we could hear the music, which is really strange to Western ears. Minimalist, with plinking noises and occasional cymbal crashes; the singing is kind of shrill. The closest Western equivalent from pop culture I can think of is that "We are Siamese if you please" song from the Disney movie.